Delphi Appeal: The Suspect, Sketch and Bullet the Jury Missed

Richard Allen’s appeal put three things in front of the Indiana Court of Appeals that his jury did not get in the same way: the Brad Holder alternate-suspect theory, Betsy Blair’s sketch, and William Tobin’s proposed challenge to the cartridge evidence. Defense attorney Bob Motta joins Tony Brueski to work through why each exclusion matters legally — and why the State says none of them requires a new trial.

On Holder, appellate lawyer Mark Leeman argued police received tips about him in 2017 and later learned of a rune-like marking on his hand and social-media posts the defense believed had similarities to the scene where Abby Williams and Libby German were found. Holder has never been charged. Trial Judge Frances Gull excluded the defense theory under Indiana’s direct-connection rule. At oral argument, the State emphasized Holder’s landfill work records and argued the defense could not connect him to the murders.

On the physical evidence, the State relied on testimony that an unfired .40-caliber cartridge recovered near the girls had been cycled through Allen’s Sig Sauer. The defense says the jury should also have heard from former FBI metallurgist William Tobin about limits in that type of comparison. Gull excluded Tobin, concluding he was not a firearms examiner and had not examined the evidence himself.

Then there is Betsy Blair, who saw a man near the bridge shortly before the girls arrived and helped develop a sketch that was not shown to the jury. The State says Blair identified the man in Libby German’s Bridge Guy image as the person she saw and points to Allen’s own statement placing him on the trail. Bob Motta breaks down the direct-connection rule, expert-evidence standards and harmless-error analysis while the appeal remains under advisement.

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